Such drama -- will it ever rain again in Seattle?

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SEATTLE -- It's the talk of the town of late: "Did you hear it hasn't rained since 2004 in Seattle?" "The last time it rained, I think Pink Floyd was still together"...

"I heard Seattle is now drier than Phoenix!"

OK, so it's not that extreme -- although Phoenix did have rain on May 23rd so it's basically soaker city compared to here.

But yes, the rumors are partially true: Seattle has gone 28 consecutive days without measurable rainfall. That means the last time it rained here was May 19th. In that time frame, New York City has had nearly 6" of rain, while even Los Angeles and Phoenix have had a light dose of rain.

Twenty-eight days is one day short of the record for longest dry streak during our spring, which was 29 days set between May 28 and June 25 in 1982. (Break out the 27-year spring-dry-streak anniversary sales!)

You can tell it's been dry just by looking at your lawn. And it's been keeping firefighters busy.

"We've had 24 brush-fire related incidents in the past 30 days whereas last year we had seven in the same period of time," said Stan Laatsch with the Valley Regional Fire Authority.

In what could be the most interest ever paid to "storm" that might bring only enough rain to maybe form a small puddle, everyone has their popcorn watching with intense interest as a weak cold front tries to limp into Western Washington. That's what's bringing the clouds today, but will it bring rain and thwart our attempt at tying the record?

It's going to be marginal. The front is really weak, and there is not much rain along for the ride. Forecasting models suggest there will be a few pockets of light showers Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, but they will be just scattered about with plenty of dry pockets in between. Best chance of showers is along the coast and from Everett north.

Ahhh, but there is one ace up the sleeve that could monkey-wrench our record attempt: The ol' pesky Puget Sound Convergence Zone. Forecasting models do show a zone forming in the Central Puget Sound area late Wednesday evening, bringing a chance of light rain here.

The trick will be whether the zone drifts far enough south to rain at Sea-Tac Airport, where the official rain bucket resides. (Yes, it could rain a foot in Downtown Seattle, but if it stays dry at the airport, it doesn't count.) Right now, I'll say odds are 50/50.

We need 0.01" of rain or more before midnight to end the streak at 28 days. If the rain misses the airport, no rain is expected again until early next week at the earliest, getting our streak well over 30 days.

Now, as summertime goes, this streak is still pretty paltry. Seattle has had several dry streaks over 30 days in the heart of summer -- in fact, the 10th longest one is 37 days with the record at 51 days set in July 7 through August 26th, 1951. That's just since 1945 when Sea-Tac was built. Before then when records were kept at the Federal Building, there are 9 streaks over 40 days.

But if this streak keeps going, at least it'll give us something to talk about despite the rather mundane weather pattern. Maybe it'll even make Phoenix jealous?